Out of the Blue
by P Gwainbenn
Summary: The dragon had fallen out of the sky, abandoned by her pack, left to die. The human was almost an outcast because no dragon would want to bond with her. Can these two work together to heal what made them incomplete and become something whole? Backroundstory for my two OCs, no appearance of the HTTYD-cast.
1. Broken

**Copyright:** How to train your dragon and Night Furys belongs to Dreamworks and Cressida Crowell. Characters and story belong to me.

**A/N 1:** The story is set in the How to Train your Dragon-Universe, but plays somewhere in the north of Scotland. The people there have never heard of Berk, the dragon-war or Hiccup, they have been at peace with the dragons for centuries and integrated them into their society.

**A/N 2:** Dragonese is in this story a mix of body language and sounds that dragons make. It doesn't get translated literally but correspondingly, like a human would put what the dragon said into words.

**A/N 3:** For visual aid please refer to my profile-page. FF_net seems to not accept direct links, so I had to post them on my profile.

**A/N4 4:** Beta was Akozu Heiwa. Thank you very much!

...********...

In retrospective, she should have known. Still, it hurt much more than her injured wing. To be simply left behind without a look back; forgotten, like she was nothing but an annoyance for her pack, for what had been her family since her mother had died.

She had screamed her fear to the dark, unresponsive sky, where she last saw them. She had even begged for their help, for the loyalty that any member of the pack, no matter how low ranking, could expect. But none of them had answered.

No one had returned for her. They had left her.

.

She waited some time. Perhaps they were just scouting the surroundings to check for imminent danger, and then they would come back, when they thought it safe enough. Surely none of them would put themselves into danger for the lowest ranking among them, for the dragon they always considered more of an obstacle than a worthy member of the pack. But even as she waited longer and time went by and her broken, useless wing hurt more with every passing moment, she herself couldn't find any danger. She was all alone, no one around her, not even the harmless animals of the forest that her crash had probably scared away.

The dragons, into whose fight she had gotten unintentionally, had gone long ago, too. None of them had, obviously, spared a look back at the dragon they had knocked out of the sky.

She could only speculate that she got involved into that fight the way she got involved into any sort of misfortune as long as she could remember. Her bad luck started right at her birth, when some angry fate gave her, unlike any other of her kind, light grey markings on her wings and back. All the others she knew were either entirely black or had slightly visible markings. She stood out like a colourful blob among them, and she always gave them away in the dark, one of the reasons why she was the least favoured member of the pack to go on a hunt with.

It didn't help that shortly after her hatching, when she was still clumsy and uncertain in her moves, she had accidently run into a branch. It had knocked back to her face, with so much force, it had hit her eye and all she remembered was pain. Pain so strong, it had made her cry out for her mother, who had crooned at her and tried to help the best she could. It had turned out despite her best trying she couldn't save her eyesight. Since then she was blind on her left side and although her right eye was perfectly fine, she was still hindered in her perception. She couldn't see anything that approached her from her left, making her wary and jumpy whenever she heard something there. It also made her a worse hunter and fighter than any other of her pack. It was no wonder she ended up on the lowest end of the ranking scale.

She had long given up on trying to change that. Even the slowest and stupidest dragon could defeat her in a fight as long as it attacked her from her blind side. She couldn't impress them with big preys as she would startle any dumb deer too early for her to catch it, or would run into a branch she couldn't see at the worst time possible.

So she settled with her rank, suffered the occasional short biting when someone wanted to fortify his own rank by humiliating her, and was just glad that she was still allowed to travel with the pack. At least she still belonged to them; she was no outcast and she could count on the little bit of support the pack gave to any member.

At least, she'd thought that.

She growled softly under her breath and tried to take another look at her useless, hurting wing. As if the pain wasn't bad enough, it was her left wing and, with the way her head was built, she couldn't even look properly at the damage done. She could only guess at how awkward it dragged behind her movements and how much it hurt and that she wasn't able to beat or even lift her wing anymore, that it was broken. Badly, it seemed.

It looked as if her misfortune had beaten down on her again. And this time it could be very well the last time. A dragon which could not fly was a dead dragon after all.

It had all happened so fast; she had had no time to react. One moment she was flying together with the others of her pack, the next she was hit with enormous force as something slammed into her bad side and knocked her straight out of the sky. She was too surprised to even try to avoid the hit; she had thought she was hidden in the dark of the night and of course she didn't see it coming. Obviously either she hadn't been (thanks to her colouring, _again_), or it had been sheer coincidence. With her luck, it might as well have been the latter.

There had been a sickening snap, pain had washed over her and her left wing wouldn't respond, let alone carry her anymore. She had fallen, screeching in pain and sheer terror, further and further, until she had hit the trees that slowed her down. She couldn't see anything as she had crushed through the plants; there was just pain and fear.

Then she had hit the hard, unresponsive earth and blacked out for a moment from the sheer force of the impact. But, as she was awake again, she had instinctively jumped to her feet, ignored the pain and tried to get back into the air, where she would be safe, where her pack would be, but she hadn't been able to do so. Her wing had betrayed her. No matter how desperate she had tried to beat it, there had just been pain. She couldn't gain any height; she couldn't even move it properly.

She had been chained to the earth.

At this point she had called for the help of her pack, for them to return. But her screams hadn't been met with an answer. They had left without even looking back!

And now that she had waited here for so long, she slowly lost the last bit of her faith. They wouldn't return. They had moved on, they were probably even glad that they finally got rid of her presence.

She was alone.

She wailed as pure terror took over. She knew that she was doomed to die. With a broken wing she couldn't fly, she couldn't hunt; she would starve to death, and, if not, an infection would kill her.

She closed her eyes, curled into herself and accepted her fate. She didn't even realise that she blacked out, finally giving in to the pain and stress.

.

...***...

.

Cailin was startled awake in an instant as a strange scream echoed through the night. Eyes wide open to try and see in the darkness of her small chamber, she listened hard. There, it was again. Powerful, scary, but at the same time very desperate and filled with so much loneliness and fear, it made her heart ache.

Which animal made such a sound? She had never heard anything like that before. It couldn't be one of the animals that lived on their island. And a dragon? She knew all the dragons on Eilean, and none of them cried like that.

Curiosity made her slide from her simple haybed and go to the door of the healers-house where she was allowed to stay. She stared into the darkness and, as the cry repeated itself one last time, she could make out a vague direction. Perhaps she could take a look when she had some spare time. In the dark it didn't make much sense, so she went back to bed, although it took her some time to get asleep again. That desperate wail kept her awake.

.

The next morning, she had to make some herbal teas, but after that, her teacher gave her the permission to go into the forest and collect some more herbs.

She learned how to treat the ill and injured from their villages healer, as no one else wanted to teach her a profession. Cailin was comfortable with that; she liked the handling of the herbs, the treatment of the ill and when they eventually get better. It was a work that suited her and she was glad that Maisie was willing to teach her.

Besides liking the work, it also served her well, as it would get her at least somehow noticed. Cailin was neither extraordinarily beautiful nor strong nor rich, nor did she have any other reputation that would give her some status. She was just the healers apprentice and, of course, the girl _without a dragon._

Her people had been riding dragons for centuries; it was not only normal for any children to pick a dragon at an early age, it was what defined their life and status within the village. They lived with dragons, they hunted with them; dragons defended their village and people, and her people did practically everything from the back of a dragon.

But unfortunately it was not a one-side-choice. Not only did the human choose the dragon he wanted to live with, the dragon also had to choose the human. And that was the point where Cailin had failed.

As she went as a child together with the other children to the dragon-caves, no dragon would even _sniff_ at her. All other children returned with a dragon, she returned alone.

She had tried it numerous times since then, every time without any success. She didn't know why. She had taught herself Dragonese, the language of the dragons, and spoke it better than anyone else in the village, but the moment she asked a dragon if it would like to share its life with her, she always got an outright 'no.'

They told her, she was not the right human for them; that they didn't feel the _connection_, whatever that might be. She never found out why the other children had no such problems, when they choose their dragons. But the effects that the dragon's strange stubbornness had had on her life were easy to see. She might not be a bad person, but the fact that no dragon wanted to stay with her made her some kind of outcast.

Everyone had a dragon. She was the only exception. Therefore, something must be wrong with her. Probably she was cursed by some god or inherited some bad fate?

Whatever it was, if not even a single dragon from the many, many ones, that lived on the island was able to trust her, no human could be expected to do so as well, and so she was left alone most of her life. People talked to her if they had to, they accepted the medicine that she made, but they avoided any further contact.

Cailin had been surprised that Maisie had actually agreed on taking her as an apprentice, but it was probably because no one else wanted to do the job, as most other teenagers were not interested in medicine or just too dumb to be trusted with complicated healing.

.

Anyway, Cailin grabbed her herb-bag and went outside. As usual, no one noticed her and she got into the forest without someone even greeting her. She was long used to that and didn't bother. Instead she tried to remember the direction from where she had heard the strange scream last night and headed for it.

She watched for any unusual signs on her way, but found nothing. Everything was like it should be. Perhaps she had dreamed or whatever had screamed was long gone. But her curiosity made her keep watching, and so she went further and further into the forest. She picked some herbs from time to time; she didn't want to waste her time entirely if she found nothing.

And as she had almost given up, she saw it.

A broken branch. And another one. A whole tree looked like something big had crashed right through it.

Cailin stepped carefully closer, trying to make no noise at all. She was almost sure she stopped breathing, as she climbed over a bunch of broken down branches that still had lots of leaves to them and hindered her sight and could finally see what laid behind. On the other side laid something dark, something _big_. Very careful to avoid any sound that might startle the beast she crept closer.

As she had a clear sight, she couldn't help but take a deep, surprised breath.

In front of her laid a dragon, but a kind of dragon she'd never seen before. It was relatively small, but had the sleek, elegant body of a fast and agile being. Its main wings were bigger in comparison to the body than every wingspan she ever saw; this dragon was surely a very good flyer. It also had a smaller set of wings at the base and at the tip of its tail two fins. But the most outstanding feature were the dragon's dark scales. They weren't completely black- there were lighter blue-grey markings along the edge of the wings and fins, some legs and the back of the dragon, but it was still the darkest scale-colour she'd ever seen. This surely was no ordinary dragon.

It didn't move and laid totally motionless.

Was it still alive?

Cailin carefully crept closer and sighed with relief as she found the broad chest was still moving with breaths. So it _was_ still alive.

But it was apparently unconscious, as it didn't acknowledge her presence and didn't move any further.

Cailin cleared her throat, first quietly, then louder. The dragon didn't stir. It must've been out cold from the crash.

To check for injuries she circled the dragon carefully and couldn't help but yelp, as she noted the awkward angle the left wing lay on the ground. She had seen enough broken wings to recognise immediately what had happened. It probably broke during the crash and at least in one place. The dragon couldn't be able to fly with such an injury and she knew what that meant. Death.

The tamed dragons of the village could survive a broken wing, because they would get cared for and fed, but not a wild dragon. With this injury it wouldn't be able to hunt and would starve before the wing healed on its own. It needed care. The problem was, that it might just not accept it. Not from her with her dragon-scaring-history.

Cailin shot another close look to the dark dragon, but it was still deeply unconscious. Probably she could at least care for that wing right now and leave some fish in the vicinity. Perhaps it would accept that much from her and she could keep it alive long enough for the wing to heal. And right now, with the dragon unconscious, it couldn't stop her from treating that wing. It might be the only chance she got.

Healer training kicked in and Cailin went for her bag. She hadn't brought bandages with her, but a part of her skirt would do the job too. Without wasting any more time, she set to work. She ripped her underskirt into small strips and prepared a mix of herbs that would cool the broken bone. Then she searched for a branch she could use to immobilize the wing as best as possible. After she found a decent one, she examined the broken bones. Thankfully, as far as she could tell, they were only broken at one point and fairly easy to bring back into their correct position. After that she put some of her herbs to the wing and started to bandage it to keep the dragon from moving it. The bones had to stay in the correct position or they would grow at the wrong parts together and might prevent any future flight. Cailin wrapped her improvised bandages as closely as possible around the bones and the branch and then bound the wing to the dragon's side so it couldn't beat it anymore and had to keep it unmoving. She tried to do that in a way that the dragon couldn't reach; if it tore the bandages apart, her labour would be futile.

After she was done, she took a step back and examined her work. It was the best she could do right now with the limited supplies she had here. Unfortunately, she had no fish or meat with her, she would need to return. Hopefully the dragon was still there then.

Cailin couldn't help but took another close look.

She still wondered what kind of dragon it was. It was a relatively young female, that much she saw right now, but of no species she could recall. She should probably take a look at the Book of Dragons, when she was back in the village.

For another moment Cailin stared at the smooth, elegant lines of the dragons body, but then she reminded herself, that she still had work to do. And she had better hurry, if she wanted to return to bring some fish for the dragon and still get her work in the nursery done.

After one last glance she turned on her heels and went back to the village.


	2. Pending

**Copyright:** How to train your dragon and Night Furys belongs to Dreamworks and Cressida Crowell. Characters and story belong to me.

**A/N:** Beta was Akozu Heiwa. Thank you very much!

**A/N 2:** Please see my profile-page for a link to the Illustration for this chapter!

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..

It was late evening when she next had some spare time at her disposal. She grabbed a basket of fish from the dragon's feeding station and crept away in the forest. She had to wander for some time, and started to doubt if she remembered the way correctly, but finally she saw the broken tree. The dragon however was nowhere to be seen.

So she must have woken up.

Cailin looked around carefully, but could not detect any movement or traces where the dragon might have gone. She was seemingly alone.

At least she also couldn't detect any torn apart bandages, so there was hope that her improvised treatment still lasted.

Since she couldn't spot any trace of the injured dragon, she had no other choice than to drop her basket, spill its contents, and then move away. If she was lucky, the dragon hadn't moved too far, and would find the fish and eat it. Right now she couldn't do much more and had no other choice than to return to the village, although Cailin decided to return the next morning.

.

.

As she woke up, everything still hurt, but that was not what set her on alert. There was the smell of a human!

Immediately, she jumped to her feet, ready to defend herself. She bared her teeth and growled menacingly while she tried to see the threat. But even after turning a full circle, she couldn't see anyone. She was alone.

But she was quite sure there had been a human near her, because she couldn't move her injured wing anymore. With a panicked cry, she tried again to move her wing, but to no effect. It seemed to be bound to her body with things that smelled so disgustingly _human_. Someone had been here while she had been out; a human had _touched_ her without her even noticing, while she was unable to defend herself. It was disgusting, it was strange, and it scared her to no end. She wanted it gone! But she couldn't even see what the human had done, not on her blind side.

Growling with frustration she let herself fall to the ground and tried to bite the things off, but she couldn't get her mouth close enough to the restrictions she felt were running around her body. Next she tried to claw them away, but the human must have known what it had been doing: once again, she couldn't reach it.

Crying with distress, she rolled around on her back, tried to scrap the odd things of on rocks and branches and just managed to make her injured wing throb with pain again.

After an exceptionally bad hit on a tree she yelped with pain and gave up further tries. She couldn't get rid of the things that humiliated her and stole the last bit of her pride. As if being knocked out of the sky and abandoned from her own pack hadn't been bad enough.

With a desperate wail she let herself fall on the ground, exhausted. She was doomed to die anyway, why fight it further?

She could already feel her stomach growl, but she knew she had no chance of catching any prey. Not in her present state.

With another wail she closed her eyes and accepted her fate. She might as well lay here and await her death. So she waited.

.

She didn't know how long she laid there motionless as a noise startled her. Something big was moving through the forest and the wind brought the smell of a human to her sensitive nose. She recognised this scent immediately. Although her futile attempts at getting rid of the human restrictions had torn away their stench, she remembered it quite clearly. It had burned into her memory with the humiliation she felt every time she tried to move her wing and found it bound against her body.

It was that human _again_.

Did it come to laugh at her? Or to kill her for good? She had heard the tales of the humans in the north… that they killed dragons. Did this one return to kill her as well?

And although she was moments ago ready to meet her death, she just couldn't bring herself to let a human kill her. She had at least one last bit of pride left. She might have been abandoned by her own pack, declared useless and just an obstacle, but she would not let a human kill her. She would not sink _that_ deep.

So she jumped to her feet once more and disappeared into the forest, away from the human.

As she thought the distance was safe, she perked her ear fins up and listened. What would the human do, when it found her gone?

She expected an angry yell but nothing came. There was just silence. Luckily the human also didn't go searching for her; it must have thought her gone. Didn't it know that she couldn't fly with only one wing? It must be really stupid.

.

For an eternity nothing happened and she caught herself at the curious thought of what the human had _done_. Did it leave? Did it stay? But why should it?

And then something new hit her nose and made her stomach growl even louder than it already did. The scent of fish.

How did fish come into the middle of the forest? And it came from the direction she fled because of the human.

So it was trying to lure her back with a bait of fish.

She growled angrily. She might be desperate, but not foolish! She would never fall for the trap of a _human_!

Determined she turned and crept further into the forest. Perhaps she could find a prey that was stupid enough to get caught by her.

.

As it turned out, she didn't find any. For seemingly hours she wandered through the trees and tried to find something she could eat, just to find nothing. And then the smell of the fish hit her nose again. The wind must have changed direction and she obviously came close to _that_ spot again without even noticing. She was getting careless.

And she was hungry. Her last meal had been two days ago and although she could go some time without eating she was injured and very, very hungry. Her stomach hurt, but she still refused to give in. She would not get in the humans trap! She would not lose the rest of her dignity!

But as time went by and her hunger was growing even more – she wouldn't have thought that possible – she came to the conclusion that she could at least take a look. It was the deepest, darkest night now and she knew that humans couldn't see very well in the dark. She had the edge over it now.

She hesitated one more moment, but then another wave of _delicious_ smell hit her and she found herself moving without even noticing.

She was very careful, crept from deep shadow to shadow and had all her senses on full alert. But she could not find any trace of the human, just a shallow stench in the air that was some hours old. It wasn't here?

She hesitated once more and scanned the surroundings again for any sign of the human, just to find nothing. It was truly gone! And it left the fish.

Her stomach growled again and she couldn't help herself any more. She stepped into the small opening that her crash had created. No human charged at her, no trap sprung upon her. Nothing happened at all.

She was alone with a pile of fish. Granted, it was old right now and smelled after laying in the dirt for the greatest part of the day, but it was _fish_, it was food and she was too hungry to be picky any more. Still she got herself enough self-preservation instincts to check for poison. She found nothing. For all she knew, it was perfectly fine fish.

That was enough for her and soon she found herself gulping it down as fast as possible. It tasted wonderful. It tasted of _life_.

Perhaps she wouldn't starve this week.

.

After finishing her meal she went once more to find a safe place to sleep. She needed to rest. She could decide what to do then; right now all she wanted was some rest.

Finally she found a small overhang she could hide under; she scorched the ground to warm it and then laid down, closed her eyes and fell asleep.

.

.

When Cailin managed to get away from the village the next day, it was almost evening. She was more confident to find the way now and soon reached her destination at the broken tree. As she had expected she could not see any dragon but to her joy the fish was gone. So the dragoness had found it and fed. Very well!

With a wide grin, Cailin dropped the contents of her basket and another load of fish spilled on the forest floor. She didn't know if the dragon was still near, but if she was, she would find it.

If she was lucky she could keep it at least fed and alive that way and she was perfectly fine with that. She would have liked it more if she could check on the broken wing, but she understood that the wild dragon wouldn't trust her, let alone let her touch her. So it was down to feeding right now. Perhaps it would be enough to keep her alive and healing.

After a final look for the silent trees around, Cailin turned to heed back to her village.

.

As she woke up, she felt strangely content. She wasn't hungry anymore and her left wing hurt less. She turned to lick at it, but couldn't reach it. Damn human!, she thought. It had bound the wing so far back, that she couldn't even groom it! How was she supposed to keep herself clean? Granted, she couldn't reach her back at her best times- her anatomy just didn't allow that- but right now she felt even more restricted.

With a low growl she started to clean at least the rest of her that she could reach. That took some time, but she didn't mind. She was not hungry and there was no apparent danger nearby. After she was done licking her scales and cleaning herself as good as possible, she jumped to the rock she had slept under. There was a small patch of sun hitting the stone and she promptly laid down there and stretched in the warmth.

Soon she closed her eyes and dozed off.

.

It must have been the late afternoon as she finally woke again. Of course she was hungry _again_. She almost sighted. Apparently her healing process needed much more energy than she would normally need.

Just great. She would still starve.

Just as she thought that, the smell of fish hit her nose.

Fish? Again?

She jerked her head up and sniffed in the direction the smell came from. The same clearing as yesterday? And the same human again?

Wary and hungry she got to her feet and sniffed again. It _was_ the smell of that human. It had been there again?

Now curiosity took over. Sometimes she damned the curiosity of her kind but once picked it became an irresistible force and she felt well enough to risk giving in. After all it has been always the smell of just one human, a female as far as she could tell and not the strongest one either. And since she still felt very well, the fish had not been poisoned, so there seemed to be no immediate harm.

Still, she was very careful and stayed always in the shadows low to the ground to keep the human from spotting her as she crept closer to the small opening. No human was there, she was alone with another pile of fish.

Saliva started to collect in her mouth; she _was_ hungry after all. After checking the surroundings and again finding no danger she stepped in the opening and after a short sniff she started to eat the fish. It tasted so _good_! She gulped it down as fast as possible- who knew if the human wouldn't come back after all? But she was not interrupted and could finish her meal in peace.

After a final lick to gather some leftover fish oil she turned again and returned to her sleeping place, careful to not leave any trace of her way. She didn't trust that human, after all.

.

.

Cailin didn't see the dragon again, but every time she arrived with another basket of fish, the old one had been gone. So it was still eating it. At least she hoped it was the dragon and not just a bunch of wolves, but they weren't that fond of fish, so chances were good that the dragon was still alive.

Until today she didn't had enough time for it, but now there wasn't that much to do and Maisie gave her the evening free. Since she had already fed the dragon in the woods, she went for the Meeting Hall where the Book of Dragons was kept. It was time to gather some information.

She often read in the books so no one questioned her right to be there and no one cared as she carried the thick leather bound codex to an empty table and started to flip through the pages. There were many dragon species listed in the book and it took some time. She skipped through seemingly endless pages with dragons that looked nothing like the one she found in the forest. Perhaps there wasn't even any information about that dragon available? But just as she thought she wouldn't find anything useful within the pages of the book she opened a page that made her hold her breath.

That was it. That was the dragon that hid in the woods.

Cailin leaned closer to the pages and started to read the little information that was written there. Apparently there was a very rare dragon species called Night Fury. There was only a scribbly illustration, but it showed the characteristics she had observed on the crashed dragon. Relatively small size, large main wings, smaller wing set at the base of the tail, two fins at the tip of the tail, a dark colour of the scales and a sleek and elegant body. Apparently Night Furies were nomads, and, since the breed itself was rare and they used to travel in the dark, it was even rarer to spot one. No wonder information was scarce. The book only said that they were rumoured to breathe a blue, explosive fire and are known further north as "the unholy offspring of lightning and death" and greatly feared. There were warnings that they are very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.

Apparently not a cuddly dragon, Cailin thought.

Should she heed the warning and not return to the forest the next day?

But, then again, the dragon had not harmed her until now. She didn't even see it and it obviously preferred to stay out of sight and avoid direct contact. It shouldn't be too dangerous to dump her load of fish every day and, besides, she was a healer. She had sworn to treat any injured being and that also included a rogue dragon-lady, that would otherwise starve and die. It was her responsibility.

Thereby the decision was made. She would return to the forest tomorrow.


	3. Tiptoeing

**Copyright:** How to Train Your Dragon and Night Furies belongs to Dreamworks and Cressida Crowell. Characters and story belong to me.

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**A/N:** Beta was Akozu Heiwa. Thank you very much!

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The next day, the procedure repeated. She woke up to enjoy some lazy time in the sun and then this delicious smell of fish alerted her of her dinner nearing. After she waited some time to be sure that the human had left, she came to gather her meal. Again, she was not disturbed and there was no sign of any trap the human might have set up.

Her curiosity grew. Why did the human do that? If it didn't want to kill her, why did it bring her fish? Weren't humans and dragons enemies?

Her curiosity grew so strong that she decided to get some more information.

The next morning she woke up early and stalked to the opening. A good place to hide was easily found and with some effort she climbed a tree. She sat down on a branch where the leaves would hide her and prepared for some waiting time.

Indeed, after the sun had moved some space, she heard the tell-telling signs of a human coming closer. Immediately, she snapped to full alarm, perked her ears up, and ducked low on the branch.

Soon the footsteps of a human grew louder and she was finally able to see the person that brought her meal. As she had already read in her odour, it was a female, rather small and lean. Except for the thing in which she carried the fish, she didn't bring anything with her, certainly no weapons.

That human definitely didn't look menacing. While she watched, it dumped the fish on the floor, took a look around, and then turned to leave again. No preparations for a trap, it just dropped the fish and left. But why did it do that?

And then she got a very stupid idea.

She jumped down the tree she had been hiding in, landed almost silently on the ground, and crept behind the human. She didn't know why she suddenly acted so stupid and careless; she could only explain it with the curiosity of her kind. This human had picked her interest and, since she was rather certain she could overpower it, she needed to satisfy her desire to know why. At least it seemed to be quite safe.

So she followed the human long enough to be sure it was still alone and no one else was hiding in the forest. Then she circled it silently and suddenly stepped out of the shadows and into the female's way.

.

Cailin's thoughts had been wandering and she hadn't paid much attention to the way she was heading. That was a mistake, as suddenly some bushes in front of her moved and the dark dragon stepped out and into her way.

She was so startled and surprised, she dropped the empty basket.

That had come unexpected.

Immediately, she pulled herself together and forced herself to remain calm. The dragon hadn't attacked her until now, perhaps she was just curious. She certainly hoped she was not hunting, but then she probably would have attacked her already and not simply stepped out into plain sight.

Instinctively, she used what she had learned about Dragonese and made herself small and unthreatening. She opened her hands and showed them to the dragon, so she could see that she was not armed.

The dragon just stood there and watched her with her intensive stare. And then Cailin noticed that the dragon had only one good eye. The right one was an acid green-yellow and stared at her with utmost intensity, but the other was a ghostly white and, if the old scar that run over it was any sign, the dragon was blind in it.

How did she survive so long while being half-blind?

But Cailin pulled herself together; this was certainly not the right time for such musings. There was a potentially very dangerous dragon staring at her from just some feet away, and she better concentrate on _that_.

It took all her will-strength to draw her eyes away from the dark dragon and look harmlessly down, telling the dragon in her own language _I mean no harm to you, I won't hurt you_.

A low growl reached her eyes and as she dared to glance up shortly, she saw the dragon had drawn her lips back to show some impressive teeth. She still didn't attack though and Cailin caught herself thinking that, first, the bandages were still in place, although dirty and ragged and, second, that this was the most beautiful dragon she'd ever seen.

Granted, she'd considered Nadders the most beautiful dragons until now; they had bright, vibrant colours and they were fast and speedy, but they could not compare to the dark beauty and pure elegance of the Night Fury in front of her.

And then the dragon turned and vanished as silently and abrupt as she had come, not leaving any trace behind.

Cailin was alone again.

She needed to take a deep breath to keep her heart from beating in her throat and tried to get her bearings back, while adrenaline rushed through her veins.

She didn't know how long she sat there staring into the bushes, but finally she realized that the dragon was gone and wouldn't return.

She needed all her strength to get back to her feet and continued her way home. Still she had goosebumps on her arms.

.

She didn't know what she had expected, some screaming and attacking probably. Maybe she had thought that she would need to attack the human to defend herself.

She had not expected _this_.

The human female remained calm, although she noted very well the increased breathing and heartbeat. She was surprised, scared probably, but still she didn't move and she didn't attack. She just stared at her and then she ducked, made herself small and unthreatening, and showed her empty appendages.

The message was all too clear. _I mean no harm to you._

And that irritated her; she didn't know how to react to _this_. So the only thing that came to the raging mess that was her mind was to growl at her, tell her that she wouldn't allow her to play games with her, that she better take her _seriously_. And then she fled the scene, fled the strange human that had set her so off balance in a single moment.

It took some time to get the confusion out of her system. That human was very strange, indeed. So it was not true that all humans immediately attacked dragons, right? But perhaps she just surprised her and caught her off guard and the next time she would bring a weapon or some other humans with her to finish her off?

Or perhaps she wouldn't.

She didn't know any more what to think and the pure curiosity was stronger than ever. That human was a riddle and she caught herself with the desire to solve it. She wanted to know why the female acted like she acted.

Oh, her curiosity would get her surely killed someday!

But, otherwise, without the strange human, she would have already starved to death.

She growled in confusion and decided to get some food before she wondered again. The fish was still where she left it and she gulped it down as fast as possible. There was still a chance the human would turn and head back here to do... whatever she intended to do.

But no one came and she could eat unstartled.

She left for her sleeping place as soon as possible.

There she curled on her usual spot, closed her eyes and tried to make any sense out of what just happened. She wasn't very successful, but even more curious than ever before. And she made a decision. It might be very stupid, but she had nothing to lose and she wanted to _know_.

.

The next day, she hid in the forest near the place where she had confronted the human. She waited some time, because she knew all too well that patience could make the difference between win and fail. Unfortunately, her restricted wing had been feeling itchy since she woke up that day. She had tried to ignore it, but it grew worse the longer she'd laid motionless, hidden in the plants. Finally she couldn't help herself anymore and rubbed the wing against the nearest tree trunk, since she couldn't reach it with her claws or mouth. It eased some of the itchy feeling but it also made her wing hurt again and she growled softly.

Suddenly she blinked in surprise as she realized what had seemingly surpassed her attention the last days: her wing didn't hurt anymore. Not the way it did after her crash. So whatever the human had done had helped her? But she didn't get a chance to ponder on those thoughts as she finally heard the footsteps coming closer.

Immediately she snapped back to attention on the task at hand and searched the surroundings for any more humans. She didn't find any. The female was alone.

She started to follow her but even as she drew silent circles around her, looking for something extraordinary or out of place, all she found was the usual human with the basket full of fish. So she didn't bring reinforcements.

She followed the human female to the small clearing and watched her as she took her look around, didn't see her, and assumed she was alone. She gave a huff of air that seemingly resembled a sigh, emptied the basket full of wonderful fish, and turned to leave.

And again, some very crazy notion must have been driving her, because she stepped out into clear sight again and made herself known to the human.

The female immediately froze on the spot, but there was something on her, that was different from yesterday. She wasn't startled that much and she seemed strangely _happy_. She made an interesting thing with her face that showed her harmless, blunt teeth. Was she threatening her? But she couldn't really expect someone to be intimidated by _those_ teeth and she didn't carry other weapons, none of the metal the humans were said to use. She didn't make another threatening move; instead she made herself small again and told her, that she was harmless. So this teeth-showing was a human thing and didn't mean what it would for her kind?

She stepped slowly around the opening, careful not to come any closer to the human and always keeping her right side to her, observing her intensely.

She still hadn't moved. She just sat there, showing her that she was harmless and would not want to hurt her. And she believed her, although that didn't make her loosen her acute attention.

Finally, she came to a stop opposite of the human and waited for what she would do now.

The human looked as confused and insecure as she felt and, for an endless moment, she didn't do anything at all.

Then the human retreated slowly from the pile of fish and suddenly made the appropriate sound and gesture to tell her: _It is yours_.

She spoke Dragonese well for being a human so limited with her articulation and voice. Still, she didn't trust her.

She growled back at her: _Move farther away from it, I don't trust you!_

For one moment, she wondered if the human understood her, but then the female made some careful slow and demonstrative harmless moves away from the fish. So she _did_ understand her.

That surprised her even further, no dragon she knew ever said something about humans being able to understand them, to even speak their language. But here she stood and talked to a human.

She was hungry, so she walked slowly, carefully forward until she was able to snatch the fish nearest to her from the pile and gulp it down whole. As usually it tasted _good_. And it made her wonder.

_Why?_ she asked the human, still with the low growl in her voice that told of no complete trust.

The human thought for a while, then she explained awkwardly: _I heal. It is what I do_.

_You don't want to kill me?_

The human shook her head very slowly, something even she understand. _No. I give life not death._

She was no expert with human communication but even she could tell that she was not lying. She told the truth, her whole body said that. Still she didn't trust her.

_Why this?_ She made an annoyed flip of her head in the direction of her injured wing. _You attacked me!_

The human shook her head, still careful not to move too fast or abrupt. _No. I made it heal._

_It hurts!_ She hissed at her.

_It is broken. It needs rest. It needs to heal. It must not be moved._ The female explained.

She just growled at that. _It is feeling itchy_!

As if the wing had heard her, it started to itch again and with an angry growl she slammed her body against the nearest tree to ease the annoying feeling.

Suddenly the human gave a sharp human sound that made her jump and outright snarl at her.

Immediately the human ducked in submission and hummed softly to calm her down. _Easy!_

She just got a growl in return that needed no words to get her intensions across.

But the human didn't run away. She held her ground and started to talk again, although she kept her voice calm and low and non-threatening. _The bandages are old, I have to check the bones and refresh the bandages to keep them from itching._

As she growled at the mere thought of a _human_ _touching_ her, the female looked up again and said with astonishing determination _It will not heal if it isn't treated!_

_Heal_. For the first time during this awkward conversation she registered fully what that meant. It meant that someday her wing might carry her again. That she would be whole again, that she would be able to touch the sky again, to be where she longed to be, where her true home was. It meant she could still get out of this _alive_.

And it also meant she would have to allow a _human_ to touch an injured wing on her blind side where she wouldn't be able to see her at all. It meant she had to fully _trust_ a human.

And that was _impossible_.

Suddenly totally confused, she yanked away, turned around and run from this human, from the insane possibility she had raised.

She would rather die than let a human touch her! She might have been the lowest of her pack but even _she_ had some dignity.

.

She didn't return to the pile of fish, although she could still smell it all the way to her sleeping place. It was tempting, but scared the wits out of her as well, because it meant to face the place where the human had given her _hope_.

She was restless.

Her wing had started to hurt again and it was itching like ants had suddenly decided to build a nest under the damned restrictions she still couldn't get off. And her mind hummed with the possibility to live after all. But at what price? She couldn't trust a human. She would hurt her, like everything that had come to her from her blind side had. She wouldn't be able to see her; she might as well starve to death than die from a weapon to the heart.

But the latter would be faster and less painful, a part of her said.

She growled. She would _not_ let a human touch her! She would _not_ depend on a human to live!

_She already did as she accepted the fish from the female,_ that annoying part of her reminded her.

She was so frustrated and confused she clawed the ground beneath her, and, as that was not nearly enough to calm the raging mess that was her soul right now, she breathed her deadly fire at a near standing tree. It immediately incinerated, but even the burning remnants did nothing to soothe her temper and solve the confusion that had overrun her without any warning.

She absolutely didn't know what to do for the first time in her life. She was alone without a pack, without anyone who cared for her. She had no one she could ask for advice. And even worse: she had been left to die by those that should have been the ones to care for her, to protect her. She had been abandoned, she was on her own.

She was doomed to die.

The only person that cared about her was a gawky human female, who she should absolutely _not_ trust if anything ever told to her was true. But she had also been told since her first days that a pack never abandoned one of theirs and that was exactly what her pack had done.

If that 'truth' was wrong, what else was wrong too?

And she knew with absolute clearness, that she just had two options: trust the human and live or mistrust her and die.

And for all that was worth, she _wanted_ to live, desperately. She _wanted_ to touch the sky again, she _wanted_ to be able to soar through the clouds again, she _wanted_ to be free again and not chained to the unforgiving earth and die in the dust and mud.

And heck, if it meant, she had to trust a human, than so shall it be.

She could only win, after all.

.

.

Cailin was surprised as the dragon suddenly appeared behind her. She didn't hear her coming.

She should have been afraid, instead she was ecstatic. She was not only still here, she also showed herself again. That could just be good news, right?

Her hope seemed true as she talked with the Night Fury. The dragon not only seemed to understand her, she also was way easier to talk to than any other dragon she met. She was _smart_.

And then she left without any further word, just at the moment where she had thought they had reached an understanding.

It all crumbled at Cailin's feet in an instant.

She failed. She not only failed in making the dragon see that she only wanted to help her, she also managed to scare her away, probably for good. She was almost certain she wouldn't see the dark dragon ever again.

Angry, she smashed her fist against the next tree. She started to think that her people and the dragons were right: she just couldn't deal with a dragon on a regular basis. She'd screw it always up. It was really no wonder that no dragon wanted to give her his trust if she was such a failure!

.

She went back to the nursery and to her work but she couldn't really concentrate on it. She could still see the dark dragon vanish into the forest.

Her failure.

Again.

She pounded onto the herbs in her mortar like she wanted to turn them to dust, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Desperation and anger on herself and the wish to understand _why_ the Night Fury had fled... it all run amok in her head.

What had she done wrong? Where exactly did she fail? She couldn't find something wrong in her words. She just didn't understand the dragon's reaction.

So her thoughts run in circles without reaching any conclusion. She just didn't understand! And that meant she couldn't correct her mistake the next time she might get into such a situation. As if she would ever meet such a dragon again.

.

Finally she went to bed, although she was still too agitated to find true rest. So she just threw herself from one side of the hay to the other, until she finally fell into a light sleep that couldn't bring any real relief.

As she woke the next morning, she felt like she hadn't slept at all.

She was restless as she did her usual work and couldn't concentrate truly.

Finally she was fed up with the pondering of the same doubts all over again. She decided to give it one last shot. As unlikely as it was, perhaps she didn't scare the dragon away for good.

So she grabbed the usual basket, filled it with fish and walked to the opening deep in the forest, down the path that was by now so familiar to her.

She didn't expect to see anything.

How surprised was she as her eyes fell on the dark form of the Night Fury that sat on the other side of the opening, awaiting her.


End file.
